Travel Blog

7 reasons it's easy to find love at a hostel

What comes to mind when you think of travelling? The sights? Interesting food? Different cultures? Or the opportunity to meet the opposite sex? Preferably cute! Our guest blogger this week is Netanya Trimboli from HI USA who looks at just why staying in hostels is such a great way to find romance. You can follow them on Facebook or Twitter.

If you’re single and it’s bumming you out, your perfect match may be closer than you think – literally. Throughout the world, in small towns and major cities, are hostels, which are havens for single travelers who just want to meet other people and have a good time. And with over 30,000 hostels worldwide, you probably don’t have to go too far to find one!

With an even mix of guys and girls, single folks are the vast majority. While long-term love is not a guarantee, Hostelling International USA (HI-USA) has countless stories of couples who met their significant other at a hostel.

Here’s why finding a match at a hostel is so easy:

The majority of guests are 18-30, who are confident, fun, and adventure-seeking

Hostelling is a young person’s thing (for the most part), and anyone willing to get out of their comfort zone and explore a new town most likely possesses those desirable qualities.

Free or low cost outings arranged by the hostel, like pub crawls or a bike tour, make it easy to mix and mingle

So instead of roaming around by yourself with a map and a bad accent, you’ll immediately gain friends-for-the-day to explore with. It’s also not uncommon for groups to continue on after the guide goes home for dinner or drinks.

Common areas, such as a game room or TV lounge, get people out of their rooms and in a social situation

Many hostels have movie nights, game nights, or other nightly activities in common areas to further encourage guests to get to know one another. And who knows, you might find a spark with your pub trivia partner.

Most guests are traveling solo or with friends – not something most people in a serious relationship would do

Think about it: would you be cool with it if your boyfriend/girlfriend traveled for a month or two without you? For the most part, hostellers are choosing to stay at a hostel because they’re unattached and looking to meet new people.

Something about being on vacation removes relationship expectations, allowing you just to have fun and enjoy the moment with whoever catches your eye

Lots of times first dates in our lives back home are about sizing up the other person to see if they meet a list of criteria that could make them “the one.” But since you’re not really expecting the cute guy/girl from halfway around the world to be your life partner, you can just focus on chemistry instead – which can end up trumping all rationale and logistics.

You can opt to stay in an all-male, all-female, or coed dorm!

It’s kind of rude not to talk to the person in the bunk next to you, so choose a room with the gender you’re looking to meet. When else are you ever presented with an opportunity like that? (Just be sure to ask in advance, because some hostels are same-sex only.)

You just need to be yourself

Your job, social status, and exes from the past are non-existent in a hostel. With guests from nearly every country you can think of (and some you didn’t even know existed), hostellers just want to meet authentic people from different countries. You could be the coolest kid or the biggest nerd back home and no one would be the wiser. All that matters is, are you fun to be around now?

One night in a dorm room is a fraction of a hotel room, so why not have some fun, take a mini-vacation, and possibly meet the love of your life? The worst thing that can happen is that you take an awesome trip and make a new friend.

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In our hostelworld.com travel blog we bring you all the latest company news and information on new additions to the site including podcasts, videos and more. You'll also get inside information on a variety of destinations across the globe as they're visited by our travel editor and writers.